Video signal processing method and device

ABSTRACT

An image decoding method, according to the present invention, can comprise the steps of: deriving a spatial merge candidate of a current block; generating a merge candidate list for the current block on the basis of the spatial merge candidate; acquiring motion information on the current block on the basis of the merge candidate list; and performing motion compensation for the current block by using the motion information.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus forprocessing video signal.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, demands for high-resolution and high-quality images such ashigh definition (HD) images and ultra-high definition (UHD) images haveincreased in various application fields. However, higher resolution andquality image data has increasing amounts of data in comparison withconventional image data. Therefore, when transmitting image data byusing a medium such as conventional wired and wireless broadbandnetworks, or when storing image data by using a conventional storagemedium, costs of transmitting and storing increase. In order to solvethese problems occurring with an increase in resolution and quality ofimage data, high-efficiency image encoding/decoding techniques may beutilized.

Image compression technology includes various techniques, including: aninter-prediction technique of predicting a pixel value included in acurrent picture from a previous or subsequent picture of the currentpicture; an intra-prediction technique of predicting a pixel valueincluded in a current picture by using pixel information in the currentpicture; an entropy encoding technique of assigning a short code to avalue with a high appearance frequency and assigning a long code to avalue with a low appearance frequency; etc. Image data may beeffectively compressed by using such image compression technology, andmay be transmitted or stored.

In the meantime, with demands for high-resolution images, demands forstereographic image content, which is a new image service, have alsoincreased. A video compression technique for effectively providingstereographic image content with high resolution and ultra-highresolution is being discussed.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

An objective of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for effectively performing inter-prediction on anencoding/decoding target block when encoding/decoding a video signal.

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method andapparatus for deriving a merge candidate on the basis of a block havinga predetermined shape or predetermined size when encoding/decoding avideo signal.

Still another objective of the present invention is to provide a methodand apparatus for performing merging on the basis of a predeterminedshape or predetermined size in a parallel processing manner whenencoding/decoding a video signal.

Technical problems obtainable from the present invention are non-limitedthe above-mentioned technical task, and other unmentioned technicaltasks can be clearly understood from the following description by thosehaving ordinary skill in the technical field to which the presentinvention pertains.

Technical Solution

A method and apparatus for decoding a video signal according to thepresent invention may include: deriving a spatial merge candidate of acurrent block, generating a merge candidate list of the current blockbased on the spatial merge candidate, obtaining motion information ofthe current block based on the merge candidate list, and performingmotion compensation on the current block by using the motioninformation. Herein, the spatial merge candidate of the current blockmay be derived from at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to aparent node block including the current block.

A method and apparatus for encoding a video signal according to thepresent invention may include: deriving a spatial merge candidate of acurrent block, generating a merge candidate list of the current blockbased on the spatial merge candidate, obtaining motion information ofthe current block based on the merge candidate list, and performingmotion compensation on the current block by using the motioninformation. Herein, the spatial merge candidate of the current blockmay be derived from at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to aparent node block including the current block.

In the method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a video signalaccording to the present invention, a spatial it may be determined thatblock specified by a merge index of a neighboring block of the currentblock is determined to be not usable as the spatial merge candidate ofthe current block.

In the method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a video signalaccording to the present invention, the neighboring block may be a blockthat is decoded before than the current block.

In the method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a video signalaccording to the present invention, a spatial merge candidate having amerge candidate identical with a neighboring block of the current blockis determined to be not usable.

In the method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a video signalaccording to the present invention, when a number of samples included inthe parent node block is equal to or greater than a predeterminednumber, the spatial merge candidate of the current block may be derivedfrom at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to the parent nodeblock.

In the method and apparatus for encoding/decoding a video signalaccording to the present invention, when a number of child node blocksincluded in the parent node block satisfies at least one of being equalto or greater than a minimum value, and being equal to or smaller than amaximum value, the spatial merge candidate of the current block may bederived from at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to theparent node block.

It is to be understood that the foregoing summarized features areexemplary aspects of the following detailed description of the presentinvention without limiting the scope of the present invention.

Advantageous Effects

According to the present invention, inter-prediction can be effectivelyperformed on an encoding/decoding target block.

According to the present invention, a merge candidate can be derived onthe basis of a block having a predetermined shape or predetermined size.

According to the present invention, merging can be performed on thebasis of a predetermined shape or predetermined size in a parallelprocessing manner.

Effects obtainable from the present invention may be non-limited by theabove mentioned effect, and other unmentioned effects can be clearlyunderstood from the following description by those having ordinary skillin the technical field to which the present invention pertains.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for encoding a videoaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a device for decoding a videoaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of hierarchicallypartitioning a coding block based on a tree structure as an embodimentto which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a partition type in which a binarytree-based partitioning is allowed as an embodiment to which the presentinvention is applied.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example in which only aspecific shape of binary tree-based partitioning is allowed.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing an example in which informationrelated to a number of times allowed for a binary tree partitioning isencoded/decoded according to an embodiment to which the presentinvention is applied.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a partition mode that may be applied toa coding block as an embodiment to which the present invention isapplied.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an inter prediction method as anembodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of deriving motioninformation of a current block when a merge mode is applied to thecurrent block.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a spatial neighboring block.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a spatial non-neighboringblock.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of replacing a spatialnon-neighboring sample that is not included in the same CTU with acurrent block with a sample adjacent to the CTU.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of deriving a motion vector of atemporal merge candidate.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a position of candidate blocks that arepossibly used as a co-located block.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a process of deriving motion information ofa current block when an AMVP mode is applied to the current block.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of deriving a merge candidate ofa non-square block on the basis of a square block.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example where a merge candidate of ablock obtained from binary-tree partitioning is derived on the basis ofa parent node block.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of determining availability of aspatial neighboring block according to a merge estimation region.

FIGS. 19A and 19B are diagrams showing an example of deriving a mergecandidate of a current block by using a merge index of a neighboringblock.

MODE FOR INVENTION

A variety of modifications may be made to the present invention andthere are various embodiments of the present invention, examples ofwhich will now be provided with reference to drawings and described indetail.

However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the exemplaryembodiments can be construed as including all modifications,equivalents, or substitutes in a technical concept and a technical scopeof the present invention. The similar reference numerals refer to thesimilar element in described the drawings.

Terms used in the specification, ‘first’, ‘second’, etc. can be used todescribe various components, but the components are not to be construedas being limited to the terms. The terms are only used to differentiateone component from other components. For example, the ‘first’ componentmay be named the ‘second’ component without departing from the scope ofthe present invention, and the ‘second’ component may also be similarlynamed the ‘first’ component. The term ‘and/or’ includes a combination ofa plurality of items or any one of a plurality of terms.

In the present disclosure, when an element is referred to as being“connected” or “coupled” to another element, it is understood to includenot only that the element is directly connected or coupled to thatanother element but also that there may be another element therebetween.When an element is referred to as being “directly connected” or“directly coupled” to another element, it is understood that there is noother element therebetween.

The terms used in the present specification are merely used to describeparticular embodiments, and are not intended to limit the presentinvention. An expression used in the singular encompasses the expressionof the plural, unless it has a clearly different meaning in the context.

In the present specification, it is to be understood that terms such as“including”, “having”, etc. are intended to indicate the existence ofthe features, numbers, steps, actions, elements, parts, or combinationsthereof disclosed in the specification, and are not intended to precludethe possibility that one or more other features, numbers, steps,actions, elements, parts, or combinations thereof may exist or may beadded.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.Hereinafter, the same constituent elements in the drawings are denotedby the same reference numerals, and a repeated description of the sameelements will be omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a device for encoding a videoaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the device 100 for encoding a video may include: apicture partitioning module 110, prediction modules 120 and 125, atransform module 130, a quantization module 135, a rearrangement module160, an entropy encoding module 165, an inverse quantization module 140,an inverse transform module 145, a filter module 150, and a memory 155.

The constitutional parts shown in FIG. 1 are independently shown so asto represent characteristic functions different from each other in thedevice for encoding a video. Thus, it does not mean that eachconstitutional part is constituted in a constitutional unit of separatedhardware or software. In other words, each constitutional part includeseach of enumerated constitutional parts for convenience. Thus, at leasttwo constitutional parts of each constitutional part may be combined toform one constitutional part or one constitutional part may be dividedinto a plurality of constitutional parts to perform each function. Theembodiment where each constitutional part is combined and the embodimentwhere one constitutional part is divided are also included in the scopeof the present invention, if not departing from the essence of thepresent invention.

Also, some of constituents may not be indispensable constituentsperforming essential functions of the present invention but be selectiveconstituents improving only performance thereof. The present inventionmay be implemented by including only the indispensable constitutionalparts for implementing the essence of the present invention except theconstituents used in improving performance. The structure including onlythe indispensable constituents except the selective constituents used inimproving only performance is also included in the scope of the presentinvention.

The picture partitioning module 110 may partition an input picture intoone or more processing units. Here, the processing unit may be aprediction unit (PU), a transform unit (TU), or a coding unit (CU). Thepicture partitioning module 110 may partition one picture intocombinations of multiple coding units, prediction units, and transformunits, and may encode a picture by selecting one combination of codingunits, prediction units, and transform units with a predeterminedcriterion (e.g., cost function).

For example, one picture may be partitioned into multiple coding units.A recursive tree structure, such as a quad tree structure, may be usedto partition a picture into coding units. A coding unit which ispartitioned into other coding units with one picture or a largest codingunit as a root may be partitioned with child nodes corresponding to thenumber of partitioned coding units. A coding unit which is no longerpartitioned by a predetermined limitation serves as a leaf node. Thatis, when it is assumed that only square partitioning is possible for onecoding unit, one coding unit may be partitioned into four other codingunits at most.

Hereinafter, in the embodiment of the present invention, the coding unitmay mean a unit performing encoding, or a unit performing decoding.

A prediction unit may be one of partitions partitioned into a square ora rectangular shape having the same size in a single coding unit, or aprediction unit may be one of partitions partitioned so as to have adifferent shape/size in a single coding unit.

When a prediction unit subjected to intra prediction is generated basedon a coding unit and the coding unit is not the smallest coding unit,intra prediction may be performed without partitioning the coding unitinto multiple prediction units N×N.

The prediction modules 120 and 125 may include an inter predictionmodule 120 performing inter prediction and an intra prediction module125 performing intra prediction. Whether to perform inter prediction orintra prediction for the prediction unit may be determined, and detailedinformation (e.g., an intra prediction mode, a motion vector, areference picture, etc.) according to each prediction method may bedetermined. Here, the processing unit subjected to prediction may bedifferent from the processing unit for which the prediction method anddetailed content is determined. For example, the prediction method, theprediction mode, etc. may be determined by the prediction unit, andprediction may be performed by the transform unit. A residual value(residual block) between the generated prediction block and an originalblock may be input to the transform module 130. Also, prediction modeinformation, motion vector information, etc. used for prediction may beencoded with the residual value by the entropy encoding module 165 andmay be transmitted to a device for decoding a video. When a particularencoding mode is used, it is possible to transmit to a device fordecoding video by encoding the original block as it is withoutgenerating the prediction block through the prediction modules 120 and125.

The inter prediction module 120 may predict the prediction unit based oninformation of at least one of a previous picture or a subsequentpicture of the current picture, or may predict the prediction unit basedon information of some encoded regions in the current picture, in somecases. The inter prediction module 120 may include a reference pictureinterpolation module, a motion prediction module, and a motioncompensation module.

The reference picture interpolation module may receive reference pictureinformation from the memory 155 and may generate pixel information of aninteger pixel or less then the integer pixel from the reference picture.In the case of luma pixels, an 8-tap DCT-based interpolation filterhaving different filter coefficients may be used to generate pixelinformation of an integer pixel or less than an integer pixel in unitsof a ¼ pixel. In the case of chroma signals, a 4-tap DCT-basedinterpolation filter having different filter coefficient may be used togenerate pixel information of an integer pixel or less than an integerpixel in units of a ⅛ pixel.

The motion prediction module may perform motion prediction based on thereference picture interpolated by the reference picture interpolationmodule. As methods for calculating a motion vector, various methods,such as a full search-based block matching algorithm (FBMA), a threestep search (TSS), a new three-step search algorithm (NTS), etc., may beused. The motion vector may have a motion vector value in units of a ½pixel or a ¼ pixel based on an interpolated pixel. The motion predictionmodule may predict a current prediction unit by changing the motionprediction method. As motion prediction methods, various methods, suchas a skip method, a merge method, an AMVP (Advanced Motion VectorPrediction) method, an intra block copy method, etc., may be used.

The intra prediction module 125 may generate a prediction unit based onreference pixel information neighboring to a current block which ispixel information in the current picture. When the neighboring block ofthe current prediction unit is a block subjected to inter prediction andthus a reference pixel is a pixel subjected to inter prediction, thereference pixel included in the block subjected to inter prediction maybe replaced with reference pixel information of a neighboring blocksubjected to intra prediction. That is, when a reference pixel is notavailable, at least one reference pixel of available reference pixelsmay be used instead of unavailable reference pixel information.

Prediction modes in intra prediction may include a directionalprediction mode using reference pixel information depending on aprediction direction and a non-directional prediction mode not usingdirectional information in performing prediction. A mode for predictingluma information may be different from a mode for predicting chromainformation, and in order to predict the chroma information, intraprediction mode information used to predict luma information orpredicted luma signal information may be utilized.

In performing intra prediction, when the size of the prediction unit isthe same as the size of the transform unit, intra prediction may beperformed on the prediction unit based on pixels positioned at the left,the top left, and the top of the prediction unit. However, in performingintra prediction, when the size of the prediction unit is different fromthe size of the transform unit, intra prediction may be performed usinga reference pixel based on the transform unit. Also, intra predictionusing N×N partitioning may be used for only the smallest coding unit.

In the intra prediction method, a prediction block may be generatedafter applying an AIS (Adaptive Intra Smoothing) filter to a referencepixel depending on the prediction modes. The type of the AIS filterapplied to the reference pixel may vary. In order to perform the intraprediction method, an intra prediction mode of the current predictionunit may be predicted from the intra prediction mode of the predictionunit neighboring to the current prediction unit. In prediction of theprediction mode of the current prediction unit by using mode informationpredicted from the neighboring prediction unit, when the intraprediction mode of the current prediction unit is the same as the intraprediction mode of the neighboring prediction unit, informationindicating that the prediction modes of the current prediction unit andthe neighboring prediction unit are equal to each other may betransmitted using predetermined flag information. When the predictionmode of the current prediction unit is different from the predictionmode of the neighboring prediction unit, entropy encoding may beperformed to encode prediction mode information of the current block.

Also, a residual block including information on a residual value whichis a different between the prediction unit subjected to prediction andthe original block of the prediction unit may be generated based onprediction units generated by the prediction modules 120 and 125. Thegenerated residual block may be input to the transform module 130.

The transform module 130 may transform the residual block including theinformation on the residual value between the original block and theprediction unit generated by the prediction modules 120 and 125 by usinga transform method, such as discrete cosine transform (DCT), discretesine transform (DST), and KLT. Whether to apply DCT, DST, or KLT inorder to transform the residual block may be determined based on intraprediction mode information of the prediction unit used to generate theresidual block.

The quantization module 135 may quantize values transformed to afrequency domain by the transform module 130. Quantization coefficientsmay vary depending on the block or importance of a picture. The valuescalculated by the quantization module 135 may be provided to the inversequantization module 140 and the rearrangement module 160.

The rearrangement module 160 may rearrange coefficients of quantizedresidual values.

The rearrangement module 160 may change a coefficient in the form of atwo-dimensional block into a coefficient in the form of aone-dimensional vector through a coefficient scanning method. Forexample, the rearrangement module 160 may scan from a DC coefficient toa coefficient in a high frequency domain using a zigzag scanning methodso as to change the coefficients to be in the form of one-dimensionalvectors. Depending on the size of the transform unit and the intraprediction mode, vertical direction scanning where coefficients in theform of two-dimensional blocks are scanned in the column direction orhorizontal direction scanning where coefficients in the form oftwo-dimensional blocks are scanned in the row direction may be usedinstead of zigzag scanning. That is, which scanning method among zigzagscanning, vertical direction scanning, and horizontal direction scanningis used may be determined depending on the size of the transform unitand the intra prediction mode.

The entropy encoding module 165 may perform entropy encoding based onthe values calculated by the rearrangement module 160. Entropy encodingmay use various encoding methods, for example, exponential Golombcoding, context-adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC), andcontext-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC).

The entropy encoding module 165 may encode a variety of information,such as residual value coefficient information and block typeinformation of the coding unit, prediction mode information, partitionunit information, prediction unit information, transform unitinformation, motion vector information, reference frame information,block interpolation information, filtering information, etc. from therearrangement module 160 and the prediction modules 120 and 125.

The entropy encoding module 165 may entropy encode the coefficients ofthe coding unit input from the rearrangement module 160.

The inverse quantization module 140 may inversely quantize the valuesquantized by the quantization module 135 and the inverse transformmodule 145 may inversely transform the values transformed by thetransform module 130. The residual value generated by the inversequantization module 140 and the inverse transform module 145 may becombined with the prediction unit predicted by a motion estimationmodule, a motion compensation module, and the intra prediction module ofthe prediction modules 120 and 125 such that a reconstructed block canbe generated.

The filter module 150 may include at least one of a deblocking filter,an offset correction unit, and an adaptive loop filter (ALF).

The deblocking filter may remove block distortion that occurs due toboundaries between the blocks in the reconstructed picture. In order todetermine whether to perform deblocking, the pixels included in severalrows or columns in the block may be a basis of determining whether toapply the deblocking filter to the current block. When the deblockingfilter is applied to the block, a strong filter or a weak filter may beapplied depending on required deblocking filtering strength. Also, inapplying the deblocking filter, horizontal direction filtering andvertical direction filtering may be processed in parallel.

The offset correction module may correct offset with the originalpicture in units of a pixel in the picture subjected to deblocking. Inorder to perform the offset correction on a particular picture, it ispossible to use a method of applying offset in consideration of edgeinformation of each pixel or a method of partitioning pixels of apicture into the predetermined number of regions, determining a regionto be subjected to perform offset, and applying the offset to thedetermined region.

Adaptive loop filtering (ALF) may be performed based on the valueobtained by comparing the filtered reconstructed picture and theoriginal picture. The pixels included in the picture may be divided intopredetermined groups, a filter to be applied to each of the groups maybe determined, and filtering may be individually performed for eachgroup. Information on whether to apply ALF and a luma signal may betransmitted by coding units (CU). The shape and filter coefficient of afilter for ALF may vary depending on each block. Also, the filter forALF in the same shape (fixed shape) may be applied regardless ofcharacteristics of the application target block.

The memory 155 may store the reconstructed block or picture calculatedthrough the filter module 150. The stored reconstructed block or picturemay be provided to the prediction modules 120 and 125 in performinginter prediction.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a device for decoding a videoaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the device 200 for decoding a video may include: anentropy decoding module 210, a rearrangement module 215, an inversequantization module 220, an inverse transform module 225, predictionmodules 230 and 235, a filter module 240, and a memory 245.

When a video bitstream is input from the device for encoding a video,the input bitstream may be decoded according to an inverse process ofthe device for encoding a video.

The entropy decoding module 210 may perform entropy decoding accordingto an inverse process of entropy encoding by the entropy encoding moduleof the device for encoding a video. For example, corresponding to themethods performed by the device for encoding a video, various methods,such as exponential Golomb coding, context-adaptive variable lengthcoding (CAVLC), and context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC)may be applied.

The entropy decoding module 210 may decode information on intraprediction and inter prediction performed by the device for encoding avideo.

The rearrangement module 215 may perform rearrangement on the bitstreamentropy decoded by the entropy decoding module 210 based on therearrangement method used in the device for encoding a video. Therearrangement module may reconstruct and rearrange the coefficients inthe form of one-dimensional vectors to the coefficient in the form oftwo-dimensional blocks. The rearrangement module 215 may receiveinformation related to coefficient scanning performed in the device forencoding a video and may perform rearrangement via a method of inverselyscanning the coefficients based on the scanning order performed in thedevice for encoding a video.

The inverse quantization module 220 may perform inverse quantizationbased on a quantization parameter received from the device for encodinga video and the rearranged coefficients of the block.

The inverse transform module 225 may perform the inverse transform,i.e., inverse DCT, inverse DST, and inverse KLT, which is the inverseprocess of transform, i.e., DCT, DST, and KLT, performed by thetransform module on the quantization result by the device for encoding avideo. Inverse transform may be performed based on a transfer unitdetermined by the device for encoding a video. The inverse transformmodule 225 of the device for decoding a video may selectively performtransform schemes (e.g., DCT, DST, and KLT) depending on multiple piecesof information, such as the prediction method, the size of the currentblock, the prediction direction, etc.

The prediction modules 230 and 235 may generate a prediction block basedon information on prediction block generation received from the entropydecoding module 210 and previously decoded block or picture informationreceived from the memory 245.

As described above, like the operation of the device for encoding avideo, in performing intra prediction, when the size of the predictionunit is the same as the size of the transform unit, intra prediction maybe performed on the prediction unit based on the pixels positioned atthe left, the top left, and the top of the prediction unit. Inperforming intra prediction, when the size of the prediction unit isdifferent from the size of the transform unit, intra prediction may beperformed using a reference pixel based on the transform unit. Also,intra prediction using N×N partitioning may be used for only thesmallest coding unit.

The prediction modules 230 and 235 may include a prediction unitdetermination module, an inter prediction module, and an intraprediction module. The prediction unit determination module may receivea variety of information, such as prediction unit information,prediction mode information of an intra prediction method, informationon motion prediction of an inter prediction method, etc. from theentropy decoding module 210, may divide a current coding unit intoprediction units, and may determine whether inter prediction or intraprediction is performed on the prediction unit. By using informationrequired in inter prediction of the current prediction unit receivedfrom the device for encoding a video, the inter prediction module 230may perform inter prediction on the current prediction unit based oninformation of at least one of a previous picture or a subsequentpicture of the current picture including the current prediction unit.Alternatively, inter prediction may be performed based on information ofsome pre-reconstructed regions in the current picture including thecurrent prediction unit.

In order to perform inter prediction, it may be determined for thecoding unit which of a skip mode, a merge mode, an AMVP mode, and aninter block copy mode is used as the motion prediction method of theprediction unit included in the coding unit.

The intra prediction module 235 may generate a prediction block based onpixel information in the current picture. When the prediction unit is aprediction unit subjected to intra prediction, intra prediction may beperformed based on intra prediction mode information of the predictionunit received from the device for encoding a video. The intra predictionmodule 235 may include an adaptive intra smoothing (AIS) filter, areference pixel interpolation module, and a DC filter. The AIS filterperforms filtering on the reference pixel of the current block, andwhether to apply the filter may be determined depending on theprediction mode of the current prediction unit. AIS filtering may beperformed on the reference pixel of the current block by using theprediction mode of the prediction unit and AIS filter informationreceived from the device for encoding a video. When the prediction modeof the current block is a mode where AIS filtering is not performed, theAIS filter may not be applied.

When the prediction mode of the prediction unit is a prediction mode inwhich intra prediction is performed based on the pixel value obtained byinterpolating the reference pixel, the reference pixel interpolationmodule may interpolate the reference pixel to generate the referencepixel of an integer pixel or less than an integer pixel. When theprediction mode of the current prediction unit is a prediction mode inwhich a prediction block is generated without interpolation thereference pixel, the reference pixel may not be interpolated. The DCfilter may generate a prediction block through filtering when theprediction mode of the current block is a DC mode.

The reconstructed block or picture may be provided to the filter module240. The filter module 240 may include the deblocking filter, the offsetcorrection module, and the ALF.

Information on whether or not the deblocking filter is applied to thecorresponding block or picture and information on which of a strongfilter and a weak filter is applied when the deblocking filter isapplied may be received from the device for encoding a video. Thedeblocking filter of the device for decoding a video may receiveinformation on the deblocking filter from the device for encoding avideo, and may perform deblocking filtering on the corresponding block.

The offset correction module may perform offset correction on thereconstructed picture based on the type of offset correction and offsetvalue information applied to a picture in performing encoding.

The ALF may be applied to the coding unit based on information onwhether to apply the ALF, ALF coefficient information, etc. receivedfrom the device for encoding a video. The ALF information may beprovided as being included in a particular parameter set.

The memory 245 may store the reconstructed picture or block for use as areference picture or block, and may provide the reconstructed picture toan output module.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, forconvenience of explanation, the coding unit is used as a termrepresenting a unit for encoding, but the coding unit may serve as aunit performing decoding as well as encoding.

In addition, a current block may represent a target block to beencoded/decoded. And, the current block may represent a coding treeblock (or a coding tree unit), a coding block (or a coding unit), atransform block (or a transform unit), a prediction block (or aprediction unit), or the like depending on an encoding/decoding step.

A picture may be encoded/decoded by being divided into base blockshaving a square shape or a non-square shape. At this time, the baseblock may be referred to as a coding tree unit. The coding tree unit maybe defined as a coding unit of the largest size allowed within asequence or a slice. Information regarding whether the coding tree unithas a square shape or has a non-square shape or information regarding asize of the coding tree unit may be signaled through a sequenceparameter set, a picture parameter set, or a slice header. The codingtree unit may be divided into smaller size partitions. At this time, ifit is assumed that a depth of a partition generated by dividing thecoding tree unit is 1, a depth of a partition generated by dividing thepartition having depth 1 may be defined as 2. That is, a partitiongenerated by dividing a partition having a depth k in the coding treeunit may be defined as having a depth k+1.

A partition of arbitrary size generated by dividing a coding tree unitmay be defined as a coding unit. The coding unit may be recursivelydivided or divided into base units for performing prediction,quantization, transform, or in-loop filtering, and the like. Forexample, a partition of arbitrary size generated by dividing the codingunit may be defined as a coding unit, or may be defined as a transformunit or a prediction unit, which is a base unit for performingprediction, quantization, transform or in-loop filtering and the like.

Partitioning of a coding tree unit or a coding unit may be performedbased on at least one of a vertical line or a horizontal line. Inaddition, the number of vertical lines or horizontal lines partitioninga coding tree unit or a coding unit may be at least one. For example, byusing one vertical line or one horizontal line, a coding tree unit or acoding unit may be partitioned into two partitions, or by using twovertical lines or two horizontal lines, a coding tree unit or a codingunit may be partitioned into three partitions. Alternatively, by usingone vertical line and one horizontal line, a coding tree unit or acoding unit may be partitioned into four partitions having a length andwidth of ½.

When a coding tree unit or a coding unit is partitioned into a pluralityof partitions using at least one vertical line or at least onehorizontal line, the partitions may have a uniform size or may havedifferent sizes. Alternatively, a partition may have a different sizethan the other partition.

In the embodiments described below, it is assumed that a coding treeunit or a coding unit is partitioned into a quad tree, triple tree, orbinary tree structure. However, a coding tree unit or a coding unit maybe partitioned using more vertical lines or more horizontal lines.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of hierarchicallypartitioning a coding block based on a tree structure as an embodimentto which the present invention is applied.

The input video signal is decoded in a unit of a predetermined block,and the base unit for decoding the input video signal is referred to asa coding block. The coding block may be a unit for performingintra/inter prediction, transformation, quantization. In addition, aprediction mode (e.g., intra prediction mode or inter prediction mode)may be determined in a unit of a coding block, and prediction blocksincluded in the coding block may share the determined prediction mode. Acoding block may be a square or non-square block with any size in therange 8×8 to 64×64, and may be a square or non-square block with a sizeof 128×128, 256×256 or more.

Specifically, a coding block may be hierarchically partitioned based onat least one of a quad tree, a triple tree, and a binary tree. Here,quad tree-based partitioning may correspond to a method in which a 2N×2Ncoding block is partitioned into four N×N coding blocks, tripletree-based partitioning may correspond to a method in which one codingblock is partitioned into three coding blocks, and binary tree-basedpartitioning may correspond to a method in which one coding block ispartitioned into two coding blocks. Even when triple tree-based orbinary tree-based partitioning is performed, a square coding block mayexist at a lower depth. Alternatively, after triple tree-based or binarytree-based partitioning is performed, generating a square coding blockmay be limited at a lower depth.

Binary tree-based partitioning may be performed symmetrically orasymmetrically. A coding block partitioned based on a binary tree may bea square block or a non-square block such as a rectangle. For example, apartition type that allows binary tree-based partitioning may include atleast one of 2N×N (horizontal non-square coding unit) or N×2N (verticalnon-square coding unit) which are examples of symmetric, nL×2N, nR×2N,2N×nU or 2N×nD which are examples of asymmetric, as in the example shownin FIG. 4.

Binary tree-based partitioning may limitedly allow either symmetricpartition or asymmetric partition. In this case, configuring a codingtree unit as a square block may correspond to quad tree CU partitioning,and configuring a coding tree unit as a symmetric non-square block maycorrespond to binary tree partitioning. Configuring a coding tree unitinto a square block and a symmetric non-square block may correspond toquad and binary tree CU partitioning.

Binary tree-based partitioning may be performed on a coding block inwhich quad tree-based partitioning is no longer performed. A codingblock partitioned based on a binary tree may be configured such that atleast one of quad tree-based partitioning, triple tree-basedpartitioning, or binary tree-based partitioning is no longer performed.

Alternatively, triple tree-based partitioning or binary tree-basedpartitioning may be allowed for a coding block partitioned based on abinary tree, and only one of a horizontal or vertical partitioning maybe limited allowed.

For example, according to a position, an index, a shape, an additionalpartitioning shape of a neighboring partition, or the like of a codingblock partitioned based on a binary tree, additional partitioning oradditional partitioning direction may be limited for a coding blockpartitioned based on a binary tree. For example, among two coding blocksgenerated by a binary tree-based partitioning, assuming that an index ofa coding block having an earlier coding order is 0 (hereinafter,referred to as a coding block index 0) and an index of a coding blockhaving a later coding order is 1 (hereinafter, referred to as codingblock index 1), when a binary tree-based partitioning is applied both ofcoding blocks of coding block index 0 and coding block index 1, a binarytree-based partitioning direction of the coding block having codingblock index 1 may be determined according to a binary tree-basedpartitioning direction of the coding block having coding block index 0.Specifically, when a binary tree-based partitioning direction of thecoding block having coding block index 0 partitions the coding blockhaving coding block index of 0 into square partitions, a binarytree-based partitioning of the coding block having coding block index 1may have a different direction from a binary tree-based partitioning ofthe coding block having coding block index 1. That is, partitioning bothof the coding blocks having coding block index 0 and coding block index1 into square partitions may be limited. In this case, encoding/decodingof information indicating a binary tree partitioning direction of acoding block having coding block index 1 may be omitted.

Partitioning both of the coding blocks having coding block index 0 andcoding block index 1 into square partitions has the same effect aspartitioning an upper depth block based on a quad tree, and thusallowing partitioning both of the coding blocks having coding blockindex 0 and coding block index 1 into square partitions is undesirablein terms of coding efficiency.

Triple tree-based partitioning means partitioning a coding block intothree partitions in a horizontal or vertical direction. All threepartitions generated by triple tree-based partitioning may havedifferent sizes. Alternatively, two of the partitions generated bytriple tree-based partitioning may have the same size, and the other onemay have a different size. For example, the width ratio or height ratioof partitions generated by partitioning a coding block may be set to1:n:1, 1:1:n, n:1:1 or m:n:1 depending on a partitioning direction.Here, m and n may be 1 or a real number greater than 1, for example, aninteger such as 2.

Triple tree-based partitioning may be performed on a coding block inwhich quad tree-based partitioning is no longer performed. For a codingblock partitioned based on a triple tree, it may be configured that atleast one of quad tree-based partitioning, triple tree-basedpartitioning, or binary tree-based partitioning is no longer performed.

Alternatively, triple tree-based partitioning or binary tree-basedpartitioning may be allowed for a coding block partitioned based on atriple tree, and only one of horizontal partitioning or verticalpartitioning may be limitedly allowed.

For example, according to a position, an index, a shape, an additionalpartitioning shape of a neighboring partition, or the like of a codingblock partitioned based on a triple tree, additional partitioning oradditional partitioning direction may be limited for a coding blockpartitioned based on a triple tree. For example, one of horizontalpartitioning or vertical partitioning may be limited to a partitionhaving the largest size among coding blocks generated by tripletree-based partitioning. Specifically, for a partition having thelargest size among coding blocks generated by triple tree-basedpartitioning, binary tree partitioning or triple tree partitioninghaving the same direction as the triple tree partitioning direction ofan upper depth partition may not be allowed. In this case, for apartition having the largest size among coding blocks generated bytriple tree-based partitioning, encoding/decoding of informationindicating a binary tree partitioning direction or a triple treepartitioning direction may be omitted.

Depending on a size or shape of a current block, partitioning based on abinary tree or triple tree may be limited. Here, the size of the currentblock may be expressed based on at least one of the width, height,minimum/maximum of width/height, summation of width and height,multiplication of width and height of the current block, or the numberof samples included in the current block. For example, when at least oneof the width or height of the current block is larger than a predefinedvalue, partitioning based on a binary tree or triple tree may not beallowed. Here, the predefined value may be an integer such as 16, 32,64, or 128. As another example, when the width-to-height ratio of thecurrent block is larger than a predefined value or smaller than apredefined value, partitioning based on a binary tree or triple tree maynot be allowed. When the predefined value is 1, partitioning based on abinary tree or triple tree may be allowed only when the current block isa square block having the same width and height.

Partitioning of a lower depth may be dependently determined based on apartitioning shape of an upper depth. For example, when binarytree-based partitioning is allowed in two or more depths, binarytree-based partitioning of the same shape as a binary tree partitioningof an upper depth may be allowed in a lower depth. For example, whenbinary tree-based partitioning of 2N×N shape is performed at an upperdepth, binary tree-based partitioning of 2N×N shape may also beperformed at a lower depth. Alternatively, when binary tree-basedpartitioning of N×2N shape is performed at an upper depth, binarytree-based partitioning of N×2N shape may also be performed at a lowerdepth.

In addition, only binary tree-based partitioning of a shape differentfrom a binary tree partitioning shape of an upper depth may be allowedin a lower depth.

For a sequence, slice, coding tree unit, or coding unit, it may belimited such that only a specific shape of binary tree-basedpartitioning or a specific shape of triple tree-based partitioning is tobe used. For example, it may be limited to allow only binary tree-basedpartitioning of 2N×N or N×2N shape for a coding tree unit. The allowedpartition type may be predefined in an encoder or decoder, or may besignaled through a bitstream by encoding information on an allowedpartition type or non-allowed partition type.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams illustrating an example in which only aspecific shape of binary tree-based partitioning is allowed. In FIG. 5A,illustrates an example in which only N×2N shape of binary tree-basedpartitioning is allowed, and FIG. 5B illustrates an example in whichonly 2N×N shape of binary tree-based partitioning is allowed. Forimplementing adaptive partitioning based on a quad tree or binary tree,information indicating quad tree-based partitioning, information on asize/depth of a coding block that allows quad tree-based partitioning,information indicating binary tree-based partitioning, information on asize/depth of a coding block that allows binary tree-based partitioning,information on a size/depth of a coding block that does not allow binarytree-based partitioning, information whether a binary tree-basedpartitioning is vertical or horizontal, or the like may be used.

In addition, for a coding tree unit or a predetermined coding unit, anumber of times that binary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioningis allowed, a depth that binary tree partitioning/triple treepartitioning is allowed, a number of depths that binary treepartitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, or the like may beobtained. The information may be encoded in a unit of a coding tree unitor a coding unit and transmitted to a decoder through a bitstream.

For example, through a bitstream, a syntax ‘max_binary_depth_idx_minus1’indicating a maximum depth that binary tree partitioning is allowed maybe encoded/decoded. In this case, max_binary_depth_idx_minus1+1 mayindicate the maximum depth that binary tree partitioning is allowed.

Referring to the example shown in FIG. 6, in FIG. 6, it is shown thatbinary tree partitioning is performed for a coding unit having a depthof 2 and a coding unit having a depth of 3. Accordingly, at least one ofinformation indicating the number of times (2 times) that binary treepartitioning has been performed in the coding tree unit, informationindicating the maximum depth (depth 3) that binary tree partitioning isallowed in the coding tree unit, or the number of depths (2 depths,depth 2 and depth 3) that binary tree partitioning is allowed in thecoding tree unit may be encoded/decoded through the bitstream.

As another example, at least one of a number of times that binary treepartitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, a depth that binarytree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, or a number ofdepths that binary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowedmay be obtained for each sequence, picture, or slice. For example, theinformation may be encoded in a unit of a sequence, a picture or a sliceand transmitted through a bitstream. Alternatively, a depth that binarytree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, a number ofdepths that binary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowedmay be predefined for each sequence, picture, or slice. Accordingly, fora first slice and a second slice, at least one of a number of times thatbinary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, a depththat binary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioning is allowed, or anumber of depths that binary tree partitioning/triple tree partitioningis allowed may differ. For example, in the first slice, binary treepartitioning may be allowed only at one depth, while in the secondslice, binary tree partitioning may be allowed at two depths.

As another example, at least one of a number of times that binarytree/triple tree partitioning is allowed, a depth that binarytree/triple tree partitioning is allowed, or a number of depths thatbinary tree/triple tree partitioning is allowed may be set differentlyaccording to a temporal level identifier (TemporalID) of a slice orpicture. Here, the temporal level identifier (TemporalID) is used toidentify each of a plurality of layers of an image having a scalabilityof at least one of view, spatial, temporal, or quality.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first coding block 300 with the partition depth(split depth) of k may be partitioned into multiple second coding blocksbased on the quad tree. For example, the second coding blocks 310 to 340may be square blocks having the half width and the half height of thefirst coding block, and the partition depth of the second coding blockmay be increased to k+1.

The second coding block 310 with the partition depth of k+1 may bepartitioned into multiple third coding blocks with the partition depthof k+2. Partitioning of the second coding block 310 may be performed byselectively using one of the quad tree and the binary tree depending ona partitioning method. Here, the partitioning method may be determinedbased on at least one of the information indicating quad tree-basedpartitioning and the information indicating binary tree-basedpartitioning.

When the second coding block 310 is partitioned based on the quad tree,the second coding block 310 may be partitioned into four third codingblocks 310 a having the half width and the half height of the secondcoding block, and the partition depth of the third coding block 310 amay be increased to k+2. In contrast, when the second coding block 310is partitioned based on the binary tree, the second coding block 310 maybe partitioned into two third coding blocks. Here, each of two thirdcoding blocks may be a non-square block having one of the half width andthe half height of the second coding block, and the partition depth maybe increased to k+2. The second coding block may be determined as anon-square block of a horizontal direction or a vertical directiondepending on a partitioning direction, and the partitioning directionmay be determined based on the information on whether binary tree-basedpartitioning is performed in a vertical direction or a horizontaldirection.

In the meantime, the second coding block 310 may be determined as a leafcoding block that is no longer partitioned based on the quad tree or thebinary tree. In this case, the leaf coding block may be used as aprediction block or a transform block.

Like partitioning of the second coding block 310, the third coding block310 a may be determined as a leaf coding block, or may be furtherpartitioned based on the quad tree or the binary tree.

In the meantime, the third coding block 310 b partitioned based on thebinary tree may be further partitioned into coding blocks 310 b-2 of avertical direction or coding blocks 310 b-3 of a horizontal directionbased on the binary tree, and the partition depth of the relevant codingblocks may be increased to k+3. Alternatively, the third coding block310 b may be determined as a leaf coding block 310 b-1 that is no longerpartitioned based on the binary tree. In this case, the coding block 310b-1 may be used as a prediction block or a transform block. However, theabove partitioning process may be limitedly performed based on at leastone of the information on the size/depth of the coding block that quadtree-based partitioning is allowed, the information on the size/depth ofthe coding block that binary tree-based partitioning is allowed, and theinformation on the size/depth of the coding block that binary tree-basedpartitioning is not allowed.

A number of a candidate that represent a size of a coding block may belimited to a predetermined number, or a size of a coding block in apredetermined unit may have a fixed value. As an example, the size ofthe coding block in a sequence or in a picture may be limited to have256×256, 128×128, or 32×32. Information indicating the size of thecoding block in the sequence or in the picture may be signaled through asequence header or a picture header.

As a result of partitioning based on a quad tree, a binary tree, and atriple tree, a coding unit may be represented as square or rectangularshape of an arbitrary size.

A coding block may be encoded/decoded using at least one of a skip mode,an intra prediction, an inter prediction, or a skip method.

As another example, intra prediction or inter prediction may beperformed in a unit having a size equal to or smaller than a codingblock through partitioning of the coding block. To this end, when acoding block is determined, a prediction block may be determined throughpredictive partitioning of the coding block. Predictive partitioning ofa coding block may be performed by a partition mode (Part mode)indicating a partition type of the coding block. The size or shape ofthe prediction block may be determined according to the partition modeof the coding block. For example, the size of the prediction blockdetermined according to the partition mode may have a value equal to orsmaller than the size of the coding block.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a partition mode that may be applied toa coding block when the coding block is encoded by inter prediction.

When a coding block is encoded by inter prediction, any one of eightpartition modes may be applied to the coding block, as in the exampleillustrated in FIG. 7.

When a coding block is encoded by intra prediction, partition mode PART2N×2N or PART N×N may be applied to the coding block.

PART N×N may be applied when a coding block has a minimum size. Here,the minimum size of the coding block may be predefined in an encoder anda decoder.

Alternatively, information on the minimum size of the coding block maybe signaled through a bitstream. For example, the minimum size of thecoding block may be signaled through a slice header, and accordingly,the minimum size of the coding block may be defined for each slice.

In general, a size of a prediction block may have a size of 64×64 to4×4. However, when a coding block is encoded by inter prediction, when amotion compensation is performed, a prediction block may not have a sizeof 4×4 in order to reduce a memory bandwidth.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an inter prediction method as anembodiment to which the present invention is applied.

Referring to FIG. 8, motion information of a current block may bedetermined S810. The motion information of the current block may includeat least one of a motion vector of the current block, a referencepicture index of the current block, or an inter prediction direction ofthe current block.

The motion information of the current block may be obtained based on atleast one of information signaled through a bitstream or motioninformation of a neighboring block neighboring the current block.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of deriving motioninformation of a current block when a merge mode is applied to thecurrent block.

A merge mode represents a method of deriving motion information of acurrent block from a neighboring block.

When a merge mode is applied to a current block, a spatial mergecandidate may be derived from a spatial neighboring block of a currentblock S910. The spatial neighboring block may include at least one of ablock adjacent to a top, left, or corner (e.g., at least one of a topleft corner, a right top corner, or a left bottom corner) of the currentblock.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a spatial neighboring block.

As an example shown in FIG. 10, a spatial neighboring block may includeat least one of a neighboring block A₁ adjacent to a left of a currentblock, a neighboring block B1 adjacent to a top of the current block, aneighboring block A₀ adjacent to a bottom-left corner of the currentblock, a neighboring block B₀ adjacent to a top-right corner of thecurrent block, and a neighboring block B₂ adjacent to a top-left cornerof the current block.

Expanding further an example of FIG. 10, a spatial merge candidate maybe derived from at least one of a block adjacent to a top-left sample ofa current block, a block adjacent to a top-center sample of the currentblock, and a block adjacent to a top-right sample of the current block.Alternatively, a spatial merge candidate may be derived from at leastone of a block adjacent to a top-left sample of the current block, ablock adjacent to a left-center sample of the current block, and a blockadjacent to a bottom-left sample of the current block. According to ashape of a current block, whether or not an expanded spatial neighboringblock is usable may be determined. In an example, when a current blockis a non-square block where a width is greater than a height, it may bedetermined that a block adjacent to a top-left sample of the currentblock, a block adjacent to a left-center sample, or a block adjacent toa bottom-left sample of the current block is not usable. Meanwhile, whena current block is a block where a height is greater than a width, itmay be determined that a block adjacent to a top-left sample of thecurrent block, a block adjacent to a top-center sample, or a blockadjacent to a top-right sample of the current block is not usable.

A spatial merge candidate may be derived from spatial non-neighboringblocks that are not adjacent to a current block. A spatialnon-neighboring block may include a sample at the same vertical line,horizontal line, or diagonal line with a spatial neighboring blockadjacent to the current block. Accordingly, a spatial non-neighboringblock may include at least one of a block at the same vertical line witha block adjacent to the top, top-right corner, or top-left corner of thecurrent block, a block at the same horizontal line with a block adjacentto a left, bottom-left corner, or top-left corner of the current block,or a block at the same diagonal line with a block adjacent to the cornerof the current block.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a spatial non-neighboringblock.

A position of a spatial non-neighboring block may be represented byusing a neighboring block where an x coordinate and a y coordinate ofthe spatial non-neighboring block are increased/decreased by awidth/height of a block unit (represented as “grid” in FIG. 11) from theneighboring block. In other words, a position of the spatialnon-neighboring sample may be obtained by increasing/decreasing in an xcoordinate and a y coordinate by a width/height of the block unit fromthe spatial neighboring sample or spatial non-adjacent sample positionedat the same horizontal line, vertical line, or diagonal line. Forexample, a spatial non-neighboring block A1 may include a spatialnon-neighboring sample where an x coordinate is decreased by −4 from aspatial neighboring block A0, and a spatially non-neighboring block A2may include a spatial non-neighboring sample where an x coordinate isdecreased by −4 from the spatial non-neighboring block A1.

A block unit may have a size of 4×4, 8×8 or greater. Alternatively,according to a shape of a current block, a block unit may be set to anon-square shape. In an example, when a current block is a non-square, ablock unit may have a shape of 2×4, 2×8, 4×2, or 8×2, etc.

Alternatively, a size of a block unit may be determined according to awidth or height of a current block. For example, a width/height of ablock unit may be set to be half of a width/height of a current block.In an example, when a width of a current block is 8, a width of a blockunit may be set to 4, and when a width of a current block is 16, a widthof a block unit may be set to 8. Similarly, when a height of a currentblock 8, a height of a block unit may be set to 4, and when a height ofa current block is 16, a height of a block unit may be set to 8.

When a current block and a spatial non-adjacent sample are not includedin the same CTU, a spatial merge candidate may be derived by using asample adjacent to a CTU boundary. Herein, a sample adjacent to a CTUboundary may represent a sample included in a CTU different with thecurrent block, or represent a sample included in the same CTU with thecurrent block.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of replacing a spatialnon-neighboring sample that is not included in the same CTU with acurrent block with a sample adjacent to the CTU.

As an example shown in FIG. 12, when a spatial non-adjacent sample isnot included in the same CTU with a current block, a merge candidate ofthe current block may be derived by using at least one sample adjacentto the CTU. Herein, when a spatial non-adjacent sample is positioned ata top part of the current block (that is, when a y coordinate of aspatial neighboring block is smaller than a y coordinate of a top-leftsample of the current block), a sample positioned at the same verticalline with the spatial non-neighboring sample may be used among samplesadjacent to the CTU. Alternatively, among samples adjacent to the CTU, asample obtained by adding or subtracting an offset to/from an xcoordinate of a spatial non-neighboring sample may be used.

However, when a spatial non-adjacent sample is positioned at a left partof the current block (that is, when an x coordinated of a spatialneighboring sample is smaller than an x coordinate of the top-leftsample of the current block), a sample positioned at the same horizontalline with the spatial non-neighboring sample may be used among samplesadjacent to the CTU. Alternatively, among samples adjacent to the CTU, asample obtained by adding or subtracting an offset to/from a ycoordinate of a spatial non-neighboring sample may be used.

Unlike to the example shown in FIG. 12, when a spatial non-neighboringsample positioned at the diagonal line from a corner of the currentblock is not included in the same CTU with the current block, amongsamples adjacent to the CTU, a sample positioned at the diagonal linewith the spatial non-neighboring sample may be used so as to derive amerge candidate of the current block.

Searching for a merge candidate may be performed in an order of aspatial neighboring block, and a spatial non-neighboring block.Alternatively, when a neighboring block adjacent to the current block isnot usable as a merge candidate, a block that is not adjacent to thecurrent block may be used as a merge candidate of the current block.

Motion information of a spatial merge candidate may be set to beidentical to motion information of a spatial neighboring block/spatialnon-neighboring block.

A spatial merge candidate may be determined by searching of neighboringblocks in a predetermined order. In an example, in an example shown inFIG. 10, searching for determining a spatial merge candidate may beperformed in an order of blocks A₁, B₁, B₀, A₀, and B₂. Herein, a blockB₂ may be used when at least one of remaining blocks (that is, A₁, B₁,B₀, and A₀) is not present or at least one is encoded through anintra-prediction mode.

An order of searching for a spatial merge candidate may be predefined inthe encoder/decoder. Alternatively, an order of searching for a spatialmerge candidate may be adaptively determined according to a size orshape of a current block. Alternatively, an order of searching for aspatial merge candidate may be determined on the basis of informationsignaled through a bitstream.

A temporal merge candidate may be derived from a temporal neighboringblock of a current block S920. The temporal neighboring block may mean aco-located block included in a co-located picture. The co-locatedpicture has a POC differing from a current picture including the currentblock. The co-located picture may be determined as a picture having apredefined index within a reference picture list or as a picture havinga POC difference with the current picture being minimum. Alternatively,the co-located picture may be determined by information signaled througha bitstream. Information signaled through a bitstream may include atleast one of information indicating a reference picture list (e.g., L0reference picture list or L1 reference picture list) including theco-located picture and an index indicating the co-located picture withinthe reference picture list. Information for determining the co-locatedpicture may be signaled in at least one of a picture parameter set, aslice header, and a block level.

Motion information on a temporal merge candidate may be determined onthe basis of motion information a co-located block. In an example, amotion vector of a temporal merge candidate may be determined on thebasis of a motion vector of a co-located block. For example, a motionvector of a temporal merge candidate may be set to be identical to amotion vector of a co-located block. Alternatively, a motion vector of atemporal merge candidate may be derived by scaling a motion vector of aco-located block on the basis of at least one of a POC differencebetween a current picture and a reference picture of the current block,and a POC difference between a co-located picture and a referencepicture of the co-located.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of deriving a motion vector of atemporal merge candidate.

In an example shown in FIG. 13, tb represents a POC difference between acurrent picture curr_pic and a reference picture curr_ref of the currentpicture, and td represents a POC difference between a co-located picturecol_pic and a reference picture col_ref of the co-located block. Amotion vector of a temporal merge candidate may be derived by scaling amotion vector of the co-located block col_PU on the basis of tb and/ortd.

Alternatively, taking into account of whether or not a co-located blockis usable, a motion vector of the co-located block and a motion vectorobtained by scaling the motion vector of the co-located block may beused as a motion vector of a temporal merge candidate. In an example, amotion vector of a co-located block is set as a motion vector of a firsttemporal merge candidate, and a value obtained by scaling the motionvector of the co-located block may be set as a motion vector of a secondtemporal merge candidate.

An inter-prediction direction of a temporal merge candidate may be setto be identical to an inter-prediction direction of a temporalneighboring block. However, a reference picture index of the temporalmerge candidate may have a fixed value. In an example, a referencepicture index of a temporal merge candidate may be set to “0”.Alternatively, a reference picture index of a temporal merge candidatemay be adaptively determined on the basis of at least one of a referencepicture index of a spatial merge candidate, a reference picture index ofa current picture.

A specific block having the same position and size with a current blockwithin a co-located picture, or a block adjacent to a block adjacent toa block having the same position and size with the current block may bedetermined as a co-located block.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a position of candidate blocks that arepossibly used as a co-located block.

A candidate block may include at least one of a block adjacent to aposition of a top-left corner of a current block within a co-locatedpicture, a block adjacent to a position of a center sample of thecurrent block within the co-located picture, and a block adjacent to aposition of a bottom-left corner of the current block within theco-located picture.

In an example, a candidate block may include at least one of a block TLincluding a position of a top-left sample of a current block within aco-located picture, a block BR including a position of a bottom-rightsample of the current block within the co-located picture, a block Hadjacent to a bottom-right corner of the current block within theco-located picture, a block C3 including a position of a center sampleof the current block within the co-located picture, and a block C0adjacent to the center sample of the current block (for example, a blockincluding a position of a sample spaced apart from the center sample ofthe current block by (−1, −1)) within the co-located picture.

In addition to the example shown in FIG. 14, a block including aposition of a neighboring block adjacent to a predetermined boundary ofa current block within the co-located picture may be selected as aco-located block.

The number of temporal merge candidates may be 1 or more. In an example,at least one temporal merge candidate may be derived on the basis of atleast one co-located block.

Information on the maximum number of temporal merge candidates may beencoded and signaled through the encoder. Alternatively, the maximumnumber of temporal merge candidates may be derived on the basis of themaximum number of merge candidates and/or the maximum number of spatialmerge candidates which are possible included in a merge candidate list.Alternatively, the maximum number of temporal merge candidates may bedetermined on the basis of the number of usable co-located blocks.

Whether or not candidate blocks are usable may be determined accordingto a predetermined priority, and at least one co-located block may bedetermined on the basis of the above determination and the maximumnumber of temporal merge candidates. In an example, when a block C3including a position of a center sample of a current block and a block Hadjacent to a bottom-right corner of the current block are candidateblocks, any one of the block C3 and the block H may be determined as aco-located block. When the block H is available, the block H may bedetermined as a co-located block. However, when the block H is notavailable (for example, when the block H is encoded throughintra-prediction, when the block H is not usable or when the block H ispositioned outside of the largest coding unit (LCU), etc.), a block C3may be determined as a co-located block.

In another example, when at least one of a plurality of blocks adjacentto a bottom-right corner position of a current block within a co-locatedpicture is unavailable (for example, a block H and/or a block BR), theunavailable block may be replaced with another available block. Anotheravailable block that is replaced with a unavailable block may include atleast one a block (for example, C0 and/or C3) adjacent to a centersample position of a current block within a co-located picture, and ablock (for example, TL) adjacent to a bottom-left corner of the currentblock with the co-located picture.

When at least one of a plurality of blocks adjacent to a center sampleposition of a current block within a co-located picture is unavailableor when at least one of a plurality of blocks adjacent to a top-leftcorner position of the current block within the co-located picture isunavailable, the unavailable block may be replaced with anotheravailable block.

Subsequently, a merge candidate list including the spatial mergecandidate and the temporal merge candidate may be generated S930. Whenconfiguring a merge candidate list, a merge candidate having motioninformation identical with an existing merge candidate may be removedfrom the merge candidate list.

Information on the maximum number of merge candidates may be signaledthrough a bitstream. In an example, information indicating the maximumnumber of merge candidates may be signaled through a sequence parameteror picture parameter. In an example, when the maximum number of mergecandidates is five, a total of five spatial merge candidates andtemporal merge candidates may be selected. For example, four spatialmerge candidates may be selected from five merge candidates, and onetemporal merge candidate may be selected from two temporal mergecandidates. When the number of merge candidates included in the mergecandidate list is smaller than the maximum number of merge candidates, acombined merge candidate obtained by combining at least two mergecandidates or a merge candidate having a motion vector of (0,0) (zeromotion vector) may be included in the merge candidate list.

Alternatively, an average merge candidate obtained by calculating anaverage motion vector of at least two merge candidates may be includedin a merge candidate list. An average merge candidate may be derived bycalculating an average motion vector of at least two merge candidatesincluded in a merge candidate list. In an example, when a first mergecandidate and a second merge candidate are added to a merge candidatelist, an average of a motion vector of the first merge candidate and amotion vector of the second merge candidate may be calculated so as toobtain an average merge candidate. In detail, an L0 motion vector of anaverage merge candidate may be derived by calculating an average of anL0 motion vector of the first merge candidate and an L0 motion vector ofthe second merge candidate, and an L1 motion vector of the average mergecandidate may be derived by calculating an average of an L1 motionvector of the first merge candidate and an L1 motion vector of thesecond merge candidate. When bi-directional prediction is applied to anyone of a first merge candidate and a second merge candidate, anduni-directional prediction is performed to the other one, a motionvector of the bi-directional merge candidate may be set as it is to anL0 motion vector or L1 motion vector of an average merge candidate. Inan example, when L0 directional and L1 directional predictions areperformed on a first merge candidate, but L0 directional prediction isperformed on a second merge candidate, an L0 motion vector of an averagemerge candidate may be derived by calculating an average of an L0 motionvector of the first merge candidate and an L0 motion vector of thesecond merge candidate. Meanwhile, an L1 motion vector of the averagemerge candidate may be derived as an L1 motion vector of the first mergecandidate.

When a reference picture of a first merge candidate differs with asecond merge candidate, a motion vector of the first merge candidate orsecond merge candidate may be scaled according to a distance (that is,POC difference) between reference pictures of respective mergecandidates and a current picture. For example, after scaling a motionvector of a second merge candidate, an average merge candidate may bederived by calculating an average of a motion vector of a first mergecandidate and the scaled motion vector of the second merge candidate.Herein, priorities may be set on the basis of a value of a referencepicture index of each merge candidate, a distance between a referencepicture of each merge candidate and a current block, or whether or notbi-directional prediction is applied, and scaling may be applied to amotion vector of a merge candidate having high (or low) priority.

A reference picture index of an average merge candidate may be set toindicate a reference picture at a specific position within a referencepicture list. In an example, a reference picture index of an averagemerge candidate may indicate the first or last reference picture withina reference picture list. Alternatively, a reference picture index of anaverage merge candidate may be set to be identical to a referencepicture index of a first merge candidate or second merge candidate. Inan example, when a reference picture index of a first merge candidate isidentical with a second merge candidate, a reference picture index of anaverage merge candidate may be set to be identical to a referencepicture index of the first merge candidate and the second mergecandidate. When a reference picture index of a first merge candidatediffers with a second merge candidate, priorities may be set on thebasis of a value of a reference picture index of each merge candidate, adistance between a reference picture of each merge candidate with thecurrent block, or whether or not bi-directional prediction is applied,and a reference picture index of a merge candidate with high (or low)priority may be set as a reference picture index of an average mergecandidate. In an example, when bi-directional prediction is applied to afirst merge candidate, and uni-directional prediction is applied to asecond merge candidate, a reference picture index of the first mergecandidate to which bi-directional prediction is applied may bedetermined as a reference picture index of an average merge candidate.

A merge candidate may be included in a merge candidate list according topredefined priority. A merge candidate with high priority may beassigned with a small index value. In an example, a spatial mergecandidate may be added to a merge candidate list before than a temporalmerge candidate. In addition, spatial merge candidates may be added to amerge candidate list in an order of a spatial merge candidate of a leftneighboring block, a spatial merge candidate of a top neighboring block,a spatial merge candidate of a block adjacent to a top-right corner, aspatial merge candidate of a block adjacent to a bottom-left corner, anda spatial merge candidate of a block adjacent to a top-left corner.Alternatively, it may be set such that a spatial merge candidate derivedfrom a neighboring block adjacent to a top-left corner of a currentblock (B2 of FIG. 10) is added to a merge candidate list later than atemporal merge candidate.

In another example, priorities between merge candidates may bedetermined according to a size or shape of a current block. In anexample, when a current block has a rectangle shape where a width isgreater than a height, a spatial merge candidate of a left neighboringblock may be added to a merge candidate list before than a spatial mergecandidate of a top neighboring block. On the other hand, when a currentblock has a rectangle shape where a height is greater than a width, aspatial merge candidate of a top neighboring block may be added to amerge candidate list before than a spatial merge candidate of a leftneighboring block.

In another example, priorities between merge candidates may bedetermined according to motion information of respective mergecandidates. In an example, a merge candidate having bi-directionalmotion information may have priority higher than a merge candidatehaving uni-directional motion information. Accordingly, a mergecandidate having bi-directional motion information may be added to amerge candidate list before than a merge candidate havinguni-directional motion information.

In another example, a merge candidate list may be generated according topredefined priority, and then merge candidates may be rearranged.Rearranging may be performed on the basis of motion information of mergecandidates. In an example, rearranging may be performed on the basis ofwhether or not a merge candidate has bi-directional motion information,a size of a motion vector, precision of a motion vector, or a POCdifference between a current picture and a reference picture of a mergecandidate. In detail, a merge candidate having bi-directional motioninformation may be rearranged to have priority higher than a mergecandidate having uni-directional motion information. Alternatively, amerge candidate having a motion vector with a precision value of afractional-pel may be rearranged to have priority higher than a mergecandidate having a motion vector with a precision of an integer-pel.

When the merge candidate list is generated, at least one of mergecandidates included in the merge candidate list may be specified on thebasis of a merge candidate index S940.

Motion information of the current block may be set to be identical tomotion information of the merge candidate specified by the mergecandidate index S950. In an example, when a spatial merge candidate isselected by the merge candidate index, motion information of the currentblock may be set to be identical to motion information of the spatialneighboring block. Alternatively, when a temporal merge candidate isselected by the merge candidate index, motion information of the currentblock may be set to be identical to motion information of the temporalneighboring block.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a process of deriving motion information ofa current block when an AMVP mode is applied to the current block.

When an AMVP mode is applied to a current block, at least one of aninter-prediction direction of the current block, and a reference pictureindex may be decoded from a bitstream S1510. In other words, when anAMVP mode is applied, at least one of an inter-prediction direction ofthe current block, and a reference picture index may be determined onthe basis of information encoded through a bitstream.

A spatial motion vector candidate may be determined on the basis of amotion vector of a spatial neighboring block of the current block. Thespatial motion vector candidate may include at least one of a firstspatial motion vector candidate derived from a top neighboring block ofthe current block, and a second spatial motion vector candidate derivedfrom a left neighboring block of the current block. Herein, the topneighboring block may include at least one of blocks adjacent to a topand a top-right corner of the current block, and the left neighboringblock of the current block includes at least one of blocks adjacent to aleft and a left-bottom corner of the current block. The block adjacentto the left-top corner of the current block may be used as the topneighboring block or may be used as the left neighboring block.

Alternatively, a spatial motion vector candidate may be derived from aspatial non-neighboring block that is not adjacent to a current block.In an example, a spatial motion vector candidate of a current block maybe derived by using at least one of: a block positioned at the samevertical line with a block adjacent to a top, top-right corner, ortop-left corner of the current block; a block positioned at the samehorizontal line with a block adjacent to a left, bottom-left corner, ortop-left corner of the current block; and a block positioned at the samediagonal line with a block adjacent to a corner of the current block.When a spatial neighboring block is not available, a spatial motionvector candidate may be derived by using a spatial non-neighboringblock.

In another example, at least two spatial motion vector candidates may bederived by using a spatial neighboring block and spatial non-neighboringblocks. In an example, a first spatial motion vector candidate and asecond spatial motion vector candidate may be derived by usingneighboring blocks adjacent to a current block. Meanwhile, a thirdspatial motion vector candidate and/or a fourth spatial motion vectorcandidate may be derived on the basis of blocks that are not adjacent tothe current block but adjacent to the above neighboring blocks.

When the current block differs in a reference picture with the spatialneighboring block, a spatial motion vector may be obtained by performingscaling for a motion vector of the spatial neighboring block. A temporalmotion vector candidate may be determined on the basis of a motionvector of the temporal neighboring block of the current block S1530.When the current block differs in a reference picture with the temporalneighboring block, a temporal motion vector may be obtained byperforming scaling on a motion vector of the temporal neighboring block.Herein, when the number of spatial motion vector candidates is equal toor smaller than a predetermined number, a temporal motion vectorcandidate may be derived.

A motion vector candidate list including the spatial motion vectorcandidate and the temporal motion vector candidate may be generatedS1540.

When the motion vector candidate list is generated, at least one ofmotion vector candidates included in the motion vector candidate listmay be specified on the basis of information specifying at least one ofthe motion vector candidate list S1550.

The motion vector candidate specified by the information may be set as aprediction value of a motion vector of the current block, and the motionvector of the current block may be obtained by adding a residual valueof a motion vector to the prediction value of the motion vector S1560.Herein, the residual value of the motion vector may be parsed through abitstream.

When the motion information of the current block is obtained, motioncompensation for the current block may be performed on the basis of theobtained motion information S820. In detail, motion compensation for thecurrent block may be performed on the basis of an inter-predictiondirection, a reference picture index, and a motion vector of the currentblock.

When a prediction sample is obtained by performing motion compensation,the current block may be reconstructed on the basis of the generatedprediction sample. In detail, a reconstructed sample may be obtained byadding a prediction sample of a current block and a residual sample.

A merge candidate may be derived on the basis of a block having apredetermined shape or a block having a predetermined size or greater.Accordingly, when a current block does not have a predetermined shape orwhen a size of a current block is smaller than a predetermined size, amerge candidate of the current block may be derived on the basis of ablock having a predetermined shape or having a predetermined size orgreater and which includes the current block. In an example, a mergecandidate of a coding unit having a non-square shape may be derived onthe basis of a coding unit having a square shape and which includes thecoding unit having the non-square shape.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of deriving a merge candidate ofa non-square block on the basis of a square block.

A merge candidate of a non-square block may be derived on the basis of asquare block including the non-square block. In an example, in anexample of FIG. 16, a merge candidate of a coding block 0 and a codingblock 1 which have a non-square shape may be derived on the basis of ablock having a square shape. Accordingly, a merge candidate of thecoding block 0 and the coding block 1 may be derived from at least oneof spatial neighboring blocks A0, A1, A2, A3, and A4 which are adjacentto a block having a square shape.

Although it is not shown, a temporal merge candidate of a non-squareblock may be also derived on the basis of a block having a square shape.In an example, a coding block 0 and a coding block 1 may use a temporalmerge candidate derived from a temporal neighboring block determined onthe basis of a block having a square shape. Accordingly, the codingblock 0 and the coding block 1 belonging to a square block may share thesame merge candidate.

Alternatively, at least one of a spatial merge candidate and a temporalmerge candidate may be derived on the basis of a square block, and theother one may be derived on the basis of a non-square block. In anexample, a coding block 0 and a coding block 1 may use the same spatialmerge candidate derived on the basis of a square block. Alternatively, acoding block 0 and a coding block 1 may use temporal merge candidatesdifferent from each other according to a position of each block.

In the above-described example, an example is shown where a mergecandidate is derived on the basis of a square block, but a mergecandidate is possibly derived on the basis of a non-square block havinga predetermined shape. In an example, when a current block is anon-square block having a 2N×n shape (herein, n is ½N), a mergecandidate of a current block may be derived on the basis of a non-squareblock having a 2N×N shape, and when a current block is a non-squareblock having an n×2N shape, a merge candidate of the current block maybe derived on the basis of a non-square block having an N×2N shape.

Information representing a block shape or a block size which becomes areference for deriving a merge candidate may be signaled from abitstream. In an example, information on a block shape which representswhether the shape is a non-square or square may be signaled from abitstream. Alternatively, a merge candidate may be derived on the basisof a block having a predefined shape or predefined size or greateraccording to a rule predefined in the encoder/decoder.

In another example, a merge candidate may be derived on the basis of aparent node satisfying a predetermined condition. Herein, thepredetermined condition may include whether or not being a unit ofquad-tree partitioning, a block size, a block shape, or whether or notexceeding a picture boundary. Herein, the unit of quad-tree partitioningmay represent a block generated by applying quad-tree partitioning or ablock to which quad-tree partitioning is possibly applied (for example,a square block having a predetermined size or greater). In an example,when it is set to derive a merge candidate in a unit of quad-treepartitioning, a merge candidate of a current block may be derived on thebasis of a parent node that is a unit of quad-tree partitioning when thecurrent block is generated by binary-tree partitioning or ternary-treepartitioning. When a parent node block that is a unit of quad-treepartitioning for a current block is not present, a merge candidate ofthe current block may be derived on the basis of a LCU or block having apredetermined size which includes the current block.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example where a merge candidate of ablock obtained from binary-tree partitioning is derived on the basis ofa parent node block.

A block 0 and a block 1 having a non-square shape and which are obtainedon the basis of a binary-tree shape may use at least one of spatialmerge candidates A0, A1, A2, A3, and A4 which are derived on the basisof a parent node of a quad-tree unit. Accordingly, the block 0 and theblock 1 may use the same spatial merge candidate.

In addition, a block 2, a block 3, and a block 4 having a non-squareshape and which are obtained on the basis of binary-tree partitioningmay use at least one of spatial merge candidates B0, B1, B2, B3, and B4which are derived on the basis of a parent node of a quad-tree unit.Accordingly, the block 2, the block 3, and the block 4 may use the samespatial merge candidate.

Although it is not shown, a temporal merge candidate of a block obtainedfrom binary-tree partitioning may be also derived on the basis of aparent node block. Accordingly, the block 0 and the block 1 may use thesame temporal merge candidate derived from a temporal neighboring blockdetermined on the basis of a quad-tree block unit. In addition, theblock 2, the block 3, and the block 4 may also use the same temporalmerge candidate derived from a temporal neighboring block determined onthe basis of a quad-tree block unit. Accordingly, child node blocksincluded in a parent node block may share the same merge candidate list.

In addition, at least one of a spatial merge candidate and a temporalmerge candidate may be derived on the basis of a child node block, andthe other one may be derived on the basis of a parent node block. In anexample, a block 0 and a block 1 may use the same spatial mergecandidate derived on the basis of a parent node block. Alternatively, ablock 0 and a block 1 may use temporal merge candidates different fromeach other according to a position of each block.

In another example, when quad-tree partitioning, binary-treepartitioning or ternary-tree partitioning is applied to a coding block,among child node blocks, a block having a preset size or smaller or anon-square block may be included. When the parent node block does notexceed a picture boundary, a merge candidate may be derived on the basisof a parent node block having a square or non-square shape where a widthor height is equal to or greater than a predefined value, or the numberof samples is 64, 128, or 256. Child node blocks included in a parentnode block may share the same merge candidate list derived on the basisof the parent node block.

Alternatively, it may be set such that a merge candidate may be derivedon the basis of any one of child node blocks included in a parent nodeblock, and the derived merge candidate list may be shared on the basisof any one of child node blocks included in a child node block.

Information representing whether or not child node blocks share a mergecandidate list derived on the basis of a parent node block may besignaled through a bitstream. According to the above information,whether or not a merge candidate of a block having a predefined size ofsmaller or a non-square block is derived on the basis of a parent nodeblock may be determined. Alternatively, whether or not to derive a mergecandidate on the basis of a parent node block may be determinedaccording to a rule predefined in the encoder/decoder.

As described above, a merge candidate of a current block may be derivedon the basis of a block unit (for example, coding block or predictionblock) or predefined unit. Herein, a spatial merge candidate of acurrent block which is present within a predefined region may beexcluded from a spatial merge candidate by determining that the same isnot usable. In an example, when a parallel processing region is definedfor parallel processing between blocks, it may be determined that aspatial merge candidate of a current block which is included in theparallel processing region is not usable. A parallel processing regionmay be referred to as a merge estimation region (MER). A merge schemefor blocks within a parallel processing region may be performed inparallel. In order to determine whether or not a current block and aspatial neighboring block are included in the same merge estimationregion, shift calculation may be performed. In detail, shift calculationof a position of a left reference sample of a current block and aposition of a spatial neighboring block may be used.

A merge estimation region may have a square shape or a non-square shape.For example, a prediction unit or coding unit which has a square ornon-square shape may be defined as a merge estimation region. A mergeestimation region having a non-square shape may be limited to have apredetermined shape. In an example, a merge estimation region having anon-square shape may have a 2N×N or N×2N shape.

At least one of information representing a shape of a merge estimationregion and information representing a size of a merge estimation regionmay be signaled through a bitstream. In an example, information on ashape or size of a merge estimation region may be signaled through aslice header, a picture parameter or a sequence parameter.Alternatively, at least one of a shape and a size of a merge estimationregion within a sequence or picture may vary. For example, a size orshape of a merge estimation region may be updated on the basis of aslice or picture. When a size or shape of a merge estimation regiondiffers with a previous region unit, information on an updated mergeestimation region may be signaled.

The minimum value or the maximum value of a block included in a mergeestimation region may be defined. In an example, when the number ofblocks included in a merge estimation region is smaller than the maximumvalue, when the number of blocks included in a merge estimation regionis greater than the minimum value, or when the number of blocks includedin a merge estimation region is in a range of the minimum value or themaximum value, parallel processing may be allowed for blocks included ina merge estimation region.

Information representing a shape of a merge estimation region may be a1-bit flag. In an example, a syntax of “isrectagular_mer_flag”representing whether a merge estimation region is a square or non-squaremay be signaled through a bitstream. When a value ofisrectagular_mer_flag is 1, it may represent that a merge estimationregion is a non-square, and when a value of isrectagular_mer_flag is 0,it may represent that a merge estimation region is a square.

When a merge estimation region is a non-square, at least one piece ofinformation on at least one of a width, a height, and a ratio betweenthe width and the height may be singled through a bitstream. On thebasis of the above, a size and/or a shape a merge estimation regionhaving a non-square shape may be derived.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of determining availability of aspatial neighboring block according to a merge estimation region.

When a merge estimation region has an N×2N shape, and the mergeestimation region has a predetermine size, spatial neighboring blocks B0and B3 which are included in the same merge estimation region with ablock 1 included in the merge estimation region are not used as aspatial merge candidate of the block 1. Accordingly, a spatial mergecandidate of the block 1 may be derived from at least one of spatialneighboring blocks B1, B2, and B4 excluding the spatial neighboringblocks B0 and B3.

Similarly, a spatial neighboring block C0 included in the same mergeestimation region with a block 3 is not usable as a spatial mergecandidate of the block 3. Accordingly, a spatial merge candidate of theblock 3 may be derived from at least one of spatial neighboring blocksC1, C2, C3, and C4 excluding the spatial neighboring block C0.

Deriving a merge candidate between blocks may be performed in an orderaccording to priorities between blocks or according to a predefinedorder. Herein, priorities or predefined order may be determined on thebasis of an encoding/decoding order between blocks, a block scan order,a raster scan order, a size/shape of a block, a block position, arelative position between blocks, a partition index, or whether or notbeing included in the same merge estimation region. In an example, whena square block is partitioned into a plurality of blocks having anon-square shape, motion compensation may be performed on the pluralityof blocks having a non-square shape according to an encoding/decodingorder. Accordingly, a merge candidate of the plurality of blocks havinga non-square shape may be sequentially derived according to anencoding/decoding order.

When configuring a merge candidate list of a current block, motioninformation on a neighboring block or a merge candidate of a neighboringblock may be used. In an example, when a merge candidate of a currentblock is derived on the basis of a parent node block including thecurrent block, it may be set such that a merge candidate having motioninformation identical with a neighboring block or a merge candidateindicated by a merge index of a neighboring block is not usable as amerge candidate of the current block.

FIGS. 19A and 19B are diagrams showing an example of deriving a mergecandidate of a current block by using a merge index of a neighboringblock.

For convenience of description, among non-square blocks shown in FIGS.19A and 19B, a block having a fast encoding/decoding order is defined asa first block, and a block having a late encoding/decoding order isdefined as a second block. In addition, the first block is a non-squareblock positioned at a left, and the second block is a non-square blockpositioned at a right. In addition, it is assumed that a merge candidateof the first block and the second block is derived on the basis of aparent node block having a square shape.

First, a merge candidate of the first block may be derived on the basisof a parent node block. In an example, as an example shown in FIGS. 19Aand 19B, a merge candidate of the first block may be derived fromspatial neighboring blocks A0, A1, A2, A3, and A4 which are adjacent tothe parent node block.

Motion information of the first block may be derived on the basis of amerge candidate specified by a merge index. In an example, when a mergeindex of the first block indicates a merge candidate derived from amerge index of A0, motion information of the first block may be set tobe identical with A0.

Subsequently, a merge candidate of the second block may be derived onthe basis of the parent node block. Herein, it may be determined thatthe merge candidate specified by the merge index of the first block isnot usable as a merge candidate of the second block. In an example, aspatial neighboring block A0 adjacent to the parent node block isspecified by the merge index of the first block, and thus it may bedetermined that the block is not usable as a merge candidate of thesecond block. Accordingly, a merge candidate of the second block may bederived from spatial neighboring blocks A1, A2, A3, and A4 which areadjacent to the parent node block.

Alternatively, among merge candidates of the second block, it may bedetermined that a merge candidate having motion information identicalwith the first block is not usable as a merge candidate of the secondblock. In an example, among spatial neighboring blocks A0, A1, A2, A3,and A4 which are adjacent to the parent node block, motion informationof A0 is identical to motion information of the first block, and thus itmay be determined that A0 is not usable as a merge candidate of thesecond block.

In addition to the example shown in the figure, when deriving a mergecandidate by using a spatial non-neighboring block, it may be determinedthat a spatial non-neighboring block selected for a previouslyencoded/decoded block is not usable as a merge candidate of a currentblock.

When the first block is not encoded through a merge mode, it may be setsuch that a merge candidate having motion information identical with thefirst block is not usable as a merge candidate of the second block.

Although the above-described examples have been described based on adecoding process, an encoding process may be performed in the same orderas described above or in the reverse order thereof.

Although the above-described embodiments have been described on thebasis of a series of steps or flowcharts, they are not intended to limitthe inventive time-series order, and may be performed simultaneously orin a different order. In addition, each of the components (for example,units, modules, etc.) constituting the block diagram in theabove-described embodiment may be implemented as a hardware device orsoftware, and a plurality of components may be combined into onehardware device or software. The above-described embodiments may beimplemented in the form of program instructions that may be executedthrough various computer components and recorded in a computer-readablerecording medium. The computer-readable storage medium may include aprogram instruction, a data file, a data structure, and the like eitheralone or in combination thereof. Examples of the computer-readablestorage medium include magnetic recording media such as hard disks,floppy disks and magnetic tapes; optical data storage media such asCD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; andhardware devices, such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory(RAM), and flash memory, which are particularly structured to store andimplement the program instruction. The hardware devices may beconfigured to be operated by one or more software modules or vice versato conduct the processes according to the present invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention may be applied to an electronic device capable ofencoding/decoding an image.

1. A method of decoding a video, the method comprising: deriving aspatial merge candidate of a current block; generating a merge candidatelist of the current block based on the spatial merge candidate;obtaining motion information of the current block based on the mergecandidate list; and performing motion compensation on the current blockby using the motion information, wherein the spatial merge candidate ofthe current block is derived from at least one spatial neighboring blockadjacent to a parent node block including the current block.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a spatial neighboring block specified by amerge index of a neighboring block adjacent to the current block isdetermined to be not usable as the spatial merge candidate of thecurrent block.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the neighboring blockis a block that is decoded before than the current block.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein a spatial merge candidate having a merge candidateidentical with a neighboring block of the current block is determined tobe not usable.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein when a number ofsamples included in the parent node block is equal to or greater than apredetermined number, the spatial merge candidate of the current blockis derived from at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to theparent node block.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein when a number ofchild node blocks included in the parent node block satisfies at leastone of being equal to or greater than a minimum value, and being equalto or smaller than a maximum value, the spatial merge candidate of thecurrent block is derived from at least one spatial neighboring blockadjacent to the parent node block.
 7. A method of encoding an image, themethod comprising: deriving a spatial merge candidate of a currentblock; generating a merge candidate list of the current block based onthe spatial merge candidate; obtaining motion information of the currentblock based on the merge candidate list; and performing motioncompensation on the current block by using the motion information,wherein the spatial merge candidate of the current block is derived fromat least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to a parent node blockincluding the current block.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein a spatialneighboring block specified by a merge index of a neighboring block ofthe current block is determined to be not usable as the spatial mergecandidate of the current block.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein theneighboring block is a block that is encoded before than the currentblock.
 10. The method of claim 7, wherein a spatial merge candidatehaving a merge candidate identical with a neighboring block of thecurrent block is determined to be not usable.
 11. The method of claim 7,wherein when a number of samples included in the parent node block isequal to or greater than a predetermined number, the spatial mergecandidate of the current block is derived from at least one spatialneighboring block adjacent to the parent node block.
 12. The method ofclaim 7, wherein when a number of child node blocks included in theparent node block satisfies at least one of being equal to or greaterthan a minimum value, and being equal to or smaller than a maximumvalue, the spatial merge candidate of the current block is derived fromat least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to the parent nodeblock.
 13. An apparatus for decoding an image, the apparatus comprising:an inter-prediction unit deriving a spatial merge candidate of a currentblock, generating a merge candidate list of the current block based onthe spatial merge candidate, obtaining motion information of the currentblock based on the merge candidate list, and performing motioncompensation on the current block by using the motion information,wherein the spatial merge candidate of the current block is derived fromat least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to a parent node blockincluding the current block.
 14. An apparatus for encoding an image, theapparatus comprising: an inter-prediction unit deriving a spatial mergecandidate of a current block, generating a merge candidate list of thecurrent block based on the spatial merge candidate, obtaining motioninformation of the current block based on the merge candidate list, andperforming motion compensation on the current block by using the motioninformation, wherein the spatial merge candidate of the current block isderived from at least one spatial neighboring block adjacent to a parentnode block including the current block.